It seemed like an eternity, but finally the hatch opened. Moments before 8pm GMT on Tuesday, Tim Peake, the European Space Agency’s first British astronaut, stepped out of the Soyuz capsule and aboard the International Space Station (ISS).

“It was a beautiful launch,” he said, grinning broadly, despite the ordeal of being squashed inside the Russian capsule for more than 10 hours, and a tense last-minute drama on reaching the station that will be his home for the next six months. “I hope you enjoyed the show.”

Joined by his crewmates, Nasa astronaut Tim Kopra and veteran Russian commander Yuri Malenchenko, Maj Peake spoke to family and friends after being welcomed aboard the station by the ISS crew, Nasa’s Scott Kelly and two Russian cosmonauts, Sergey Volkov and Mikhail Korniyenko.

“I think you’d call that a spectacular day at the office,” said Peake’s mother, Angela. His wife, Rebecca, beamed as she added: “It was fantastic to watch that launch today.”

Visibly elated at arriving at the station, Peake said: “That first sunrise was absolutely spectacular and we also got the benefit of a moonrise which was beautiful to see.”

The ascent to the ISS seemed flawless until the final moments when the automatic docking system on the Soyuz capsule malfunctioned. The glitch forced Malenchenko to take manual control of the spacecraft and, using the cross hairs on the Soyuz display, he backed up and then slowly brought the capsule safely to the station.

The fault made for a hair-raising end to Peake’s ascent, though failure of the docking system is a problem the astronauts train well for. “We were a little bit worried on our side,” Moscow mission control confessed to the crew after the capsule docked at 5.33pm GMT, nine minutes later than scheduled.

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“I’m feeling relieved,” said Angela Peake, who watched the docking with family and friends at a cinema in Baikonur, Kazakhstan. Asked what it felt like to watch the launch, she said: “It was fantastic, but quite emotional as you can imagine.” Her husband, Nigel, said of the docking: “It was great to watch. I didn’t feel worried with a commander like Yuri. They know what they are doing.”

Peake blasted off on the six-month mission at 11.03am GMT from Baikonur cosmodrome. As the three crew waited for launch in the cramped capsule, mission controllers piped in music, including Queen’s rock anthem Don’t Stop Me Now.

In what appeared to be a perfect launch, the rocket rose on a tower of flame into the sky above the Kazakh steppe and gave chase to the space station. The orbiting outpost had soared overhead moments earlier, with the Soyuz leaving exactly on time. A minute after launch, the rocket had torn through the sound barrier and was travelling at more than 1,000mph.

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A camera in the capsule showed Tim Peake giving a thumbs up as the first stage fell away from the rocket right on schedule. Minutes later, a gravity indicator seen dangling down in the capsule began to float as the crew reached orbit.

The 26m horsepower rocket engines burned 270 tonnes of kerosene and liquid oxygen in nine minutes to rendezvous with the space station, which circles the planet at 17,500mph, 248 miles above the surface.

Before takeoff, Peake said farewell to Rebecca and their two young sons from behind a glass screen that protects the astronauts from picking up infections before their trip into space. He later waved and gave a thumbs up to his children from the bus that took the astronauts to the launchpad. Sitting on the shoulders of his grandfather, Peake’s youngest son cried: “I want to go with Daddy!”

As the crew suited up and got ready for launch, well-wishers sent Peake good luck messages. Elton John, who released the track Rocket Man in 1972, tweeted: “From one Rocket Man to another, good luck @astro_timpeake with your launch and mission!” In a recorded video message, David Cameron said: “On behalf of everyone in Britain, let me wish you the very best of luck. You are doing us proud.”

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“We hope that Major Peake’s work on the space station will serve as an inspiration to a new generation of scientists and engineers. The thoughts and prayers of the whole country are with him and the crew, especially at this time of year. We join with his friends and family in wishing him a productive mission and a safe return to Earth.”

Peake’s wife, children and parents watched the launch from the VIP observation area more than a mile from the launchpad. Friends and relatives on the ground hugged each other with relief as the news that the craft had entered space came through. Rebecca was heard to say: “Wasn’t it an amazing sight? I had the biggest smile on my face.”

Peake, 43, was born in Chichester and worked as an army helicopter pilot and later a helicopter test pilot before being selected for the European astronaut corps in 2009. Until then, the British government had a policy that opposed the funding of human space flight. His trip to the space station comes 24 years after Helen Sharman, a chemist from Sheffield, became the first Briton in space at the age of 27. She flew to the Russian Mir space station as part of a privately funded venture.

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David Southwood, a former director of science at the European Space Agency, watched the launch from London. “It was terrific,” he said. “To my eyes it looked close to picture perfect. A lovely day with bright blue skies. It was really emotional. The whole of the tradition echoes right back to Gagarin.”

Peake’s mission, Principia, named after Newton’s 17th century tome on the laws of motion, centres on dozens of scientific experiments to explore how the body adapts to space, how advanced materials form in weightless conditions, and trialling new technologies, including remote control systems for operating rovers on planetary surfaces.

The experiments began before the crew had even arrived at the space station, with all three completing questionnaires to help mission scientists understand why three-quarters of astronauts suffer “space headaches” almost as soon as they arrive in orbit.

Piers Sellers, a Sussex-born scientist who moved to the US and flew three missions as a Nasa astronaut, said: “It’s wonderful to finally see an official UK astronaut go into space – something that all the rest of us have hoped for for years. I am sure that Tim Peake will do a great job on station and that thousands of British kids will follow his adventure and be inspired by it. The Apollo programme did that for me.”

How the mission unfolded

11.03amGMT The Soyuz rocket launches on time from Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan with the European Space Agency’s Tim Peake, Nasa astronaut Tim Kopra, and Russian commander Yuri Malenchenko. Their destination, the ISS, has flown overhead three minutes earlier at 17,500mph.

11.10am The Soyuz rocket reaches an altitude of 100km, the point at which the crew are officially in space. At this stage most of the rocket’s 270 tonnes of kerosene and liquid oxygen have been burned to escape the pull of Earth’s gravity.

11.12am The Soyuz reaches orbit having shed its four large boosters and rocket stages. When the final, third rocket stage shuts down, the astronauts are thrown forwards in their seats by the deceleration. The spacecraft deploys its solar arrays and uses smaller burns to raise its orbit to 400km above Earth and gradually close the distance to the ISS.

5.20pm A problem with the automatic docking computer means Malenchenko is unhappy with the approach trajectory. He must take over manual control and fly the spacecraft into position. A failure of the docking system is an eventuality the pilots train hard for, and Malenchenko, one of Russia’s most experienced cosmonauts, has done this countless times in simulations.

5.33pm Malenchenko backs the Soyuz away and then lines up the space station in the capsule’s cross hairs. After three attempts, he cautiously edges the vessel into position until it is captured by the station’s docking mechanism. Mission controllers in Moscow radio the crew and confess that for a moment they were worried.

7.59pm The hatch separating the Soyuz from the ISS finally opens, allowing Peake and the rest of the capsule’s crew to step into their new home for the next six months. They are welcomed aboard and immediately go into a two-way video link with family and friends in Baikonur.